the Dogsalmon wrote:in 1867 the Dominion of Canada was formed with 4 provinces...i think...i am a little stoned at the moment so i may have fucked it all up...

You got the start date right but I believe the dominion ceased to exist after WW1 or WW2 depending on who you talk too. After WW1 Canada had control of its own foreign policy which would make it an independent country but Canadoan Citizenship did not exist till 1947. ..can't have a country without citizens ..... shrug

The conversation is flowing again between the NHL and NHL Players' Association.

A marathon meeting between deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr stretched from Saturday afternoon into the early hours of Sunday morning, and was followed by some encouraging news: The sides expect to return to the bargaining table again soon.

"We met on and off for most of the day and covered a lot of ground," Daly told The Canadian Press via e-mail. "We plan to meet again early in the week."

Daly and Fehr got together at an undisclosed location in an effort to shield themselves from the media spotlight and start finding a way forward in negotiations. The session included "good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us," according to Daly.

There was certainly a positive feeling in the air afterwards, with Fehr saying in a statement that he agreed with how Daly summed up the session.

"Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress," added Fehr.

This was probably the first honest negotiating session that's taken place. Didn't the exact same thing happen last lockout? It was Daley and Saskin that put together the framework.

I get the distinct impression that up until this point the figureheads on both sides have been putting on a dog and pony show for the media.

I think this may be standard procedures with these kinds of negotiations - it allows the top guys to play the hard cop for their sides while their #2s hash out a deal. The leaders posture, their staff negotiate.The leaders may meet to discuss overall intentions, resolve and direction but it's the staffers who have the latitude away from the limelight and podium to work a deal out when they get the green light from their bosses.

There's that report from TSN saying the league budged on making contracts whole and it seems things went from there. I wonder what made the league blink? Maybe they realized they (or the poorer teams) would have more to lose from a lost season than the players, and they got the sense the players were ready to skewer the season.

If that's the case, you wish they had realized that from the get-go and got to this point of negotiations earlier. Inevitable, I guess.

On a positive note, the prospects continue to play and the injured can rehab without pressure to come back ASAP. Imagine what things would have looked like by now if the season started on time, considering the injury situation the team was and is in. Maybe I'm grasping at silver linings but this could benefit the team whenever the season starts.

Lancer wrote:There's that report from TSN saying the league budged on making contracts whole and it seems things went from there. I wonder what made the league blink? Maybe they realized they (or the poorer teams) would have more to lose from a lost season than the players, and they got the sense the players were ready to skewer the season.

Internal pressure from the fed up Canadian franchises (and successful American ones), who are rumored to be livid over the whole situation and the idea they'd lose another season worth of revenue? None of them are talking publicly, but off the record it appears there's a push to get it done.